Teachers are people who get

to decorate the future with little thumbprints of themselves. They are

like torch bearers of human potential, holding each mind for a short while.

They gild and broaden what was cultivated before them, and they reach

even higher to pass off to those who will follow after them in the lives

of a child. They are moms and dads, neighbors and friends, and they leave

their marks subtly, but in indelible ink.

They are the first people,

besides relatives and your closest friends, whom your little ones will

love. They are the only ones, besides relatives and your closest friends,

who will love your little ones back. Your children will go to school and

mistakenly call their teacher, Mommy. They will come home and mistakenly

call you by the name of their teacher. It is the highest compliment that

can be paid in both cases, and gives testimony to the trust that a teacher

instills.

They come in all flavors, some

quiet and serious, others jubilant and charismatic. They each bring into

the lives of children a love for learning, and a passion for their passion.

Those who teach literature and writing teach children to hear laughter

in a babbling brook, to see stained glass windows weep in the rain, and

to experience life through living words.

Those who teach math teach

children that problems can be solved, that life is full of absolutes,

and that sometimes in life, you have to prove what you believe.

Science teachers teach those

with inquiring minds that all good hypotheses begin with a question. They

can go toe to toe into the 20 powers of "why" with the child

who is terminally curious, and have patience beyond measure.

Social studies teachers are

the first to reveal that we are a tiny planet of human beings who are

more alike than different, but that we will all leave a mark in this world

that cannot be duplicated. They teach us that if we drop the ball, our

mark will be missing, and the big picture will be left unfinished and

wanting.

Teachers plant the seeds of

art and music, carefully tending the mind's soil so that the seeds will

bear fruit and fill our senses with sound, color, texture, and depth.

Teachers seem to give away

more than they get back. Some are called to the profession because they

have a heart for young people, and a belief that they can impact the world

one little wide-eyed child at a time. Others come in to the profession

and find that the children impact them in much the same way.

There are good years and bad

years, rewarding years and costly years. There are times that go by, when

teaching is so hard and success too seldom, that teachers find themselves

hanging on the hope that one child will be reached, and that reaching

that one will be reason enough to go on teaching.

There are times when teachers

must concern themselves with not just the minds of their students, but

the bellies and the hearts of their students, too. Do these children with

whom I am trusted have enough to eat? Are they loved and nurtured? Are

they warm and safe? There are teachers who no doubt ask of themselves

each day, "Am I the only person that will reach out to this child

today? If I am, am I listening attentively, am I responding assuredly,

and most of all, am I leaving this child with a sense that he matters?"

Because to teachers, they all

matter. There are no unteachable or unlovable children. To teach is to

reach out the hardest to the child who least wants to be reached. To teach

is to impart knowledge, so that there can be hope for tomorrow. To teach

is to confidently make learning "cool," to find the biggest

tough guy and turn him on to learning. To teach is to render even the

most ardent resistor movable, like the potter with his clay.

The week of May 7­11 is

Teacher Appreciation Week. Reach out to a teacher. Each of us carries

with us memories of those teachers who made all the difference in our

lives. There are teachers today who are creating that same brand of magic

in the lives of your children.

Share your thoughts with a

teacher. Pour out your appreciation to the ones who pour out their talents

to teach children.

Thank you, teachers. You make

all the difference in the lives of a children, and in the life of this

community.

[Your comments are welcome:

[email protected].]